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My VBAC/Covid 19 Home Birth Story

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

April 19, 2020 (10 days postpartum) *at the height of COVID fears/protocols being put in place in US)

Our little man, Hawkins, was born on April 9 at 2:58 pm at 8 lbs 2 oz. I am so very grateful for the birth experience that we had, even with it’s challenges. It was a powerful experience. 

Early/prodromal labor started on Tuesday morning, contractions around 30 seconds long and 5-7 min apart, but slowed overnight to contractions every ten minutes. I experienced the same up and down labor pattern all day Wednesday. I literally got to 3-5 minutes apart (having an app say “go to hospital” :), a few times. However, they wouldn’t stay consistently over 1-2 hours, indicating that I wasn’t fully in “active” labor.” but I have to say… it felt active to me. Contractions were 3-5 minutes apart during the day and lasted around 50 seconds but would slow again at times to 5-10 minutes and shorten in duration. I am amazed at my ability to stay “calm” and move through these. I did however, hit the place of “I don’t know if I can do this anymore” about 3 times over the course of the 3 days. I remember on Wednesday night especially, being on the couch laboring, with my husband trying to sleep for an hour or two, and my doula also getting some rest, feeling so afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to do it, and not wanting to go to the hospital where I’d for sure have interventions put on me. It was a physical, mental, emotional rollercoaster. My birth doula came on Tuesday night at midnight. (She was actually a backup doula because my main doula who I had been working with had had a fluke fever within the two weeks prior of birth for one night so according to the rules with COVID-19 precautions with our midwifery care she wasn’t allowed at the birth). Our backup doula had to spend a lot of her time just helping with our 20 month old because we couldn’t have a specific person for childcare due to Covid-19 as well. I wanted him at home for the birth and not with another family due to Covid-19 precaution. So, although she did help me for sure and I am so grateful she stayed the 2.5 days and didn’t give up on me, I wasn’t totally connected with her like my “real” doula and like I said, her focus primarily was childcare. My husband and I grappled with the question of “when to call the midwives” who we were in communication with during the day, but whenever we spoke we reported the inconsistent labor patterns, so having them come over seemed unnecessary. In hindsight, we probably could’ve called them over on Tuesday before heading through the night again. I do think that some of my labor patterns might’ve been due to me not feeling “secure” yet without my birth team there. However, maybe I just needed to labor on my own like that for a long time to get to the place that they were needed on Thursday am. I don’t know. On Thursday am, after I made it through another night, we called the midwives. They arrived at 8:20 am on Thursday April 9. Upon arrival and assessment, I was given a bag of IV fluids to help me replenish since I’d been going for so long with labor.  More food was pushed as well along with homeopathics. The midwives determined that the baby’s head may be a bit posterior with the baby at an LOT position instead of LOA position. So while getting the IV, I used a peanut ball and did the exaggerated side lying pose on my right side to turn him for around 1-2 hours. I could feel him moving and contractions were painful in that position but turns out it worked. I had two cervical checks that day but I chose to not be told what my dilation was at either. I wanted to trust my body to know when it was ready to push without having outside guidance telling me and I didn’t want the additional mental challenge of knowing certain numbers of dilation and feeling defeated if they weren’t “high enough” or whatnot. The marathon I had been running felt like such a mental and emotional challenge when I’d get up to 3-5 minute contractions consistently, thinking I was near the end, but then not be…because it wouldn’t stay there. After such a long early labor, I mentally wouldn’t be able to hear that I was “only” at a certain dilation. I also had the knowledge that those numbers don’t necessarily correspond to lengths of time to completion. Birth is not a linear process. (This is one of the main reasons I planned for a home birth with midwifery care. I knew my labor and birth wouldn’t be put on a false timeline or be forced unnecessary interventions like what happens in the majority of maternal care policies and just the cultural norms.) The mental “mind fuck” of knowing the dilation numbers wasn’t a risk I wanted to take after an already very challenging 2 days of labor at home. I come to find out after the fact that at 8:30 am on Thursday I was around 4 cm dilated and sometime around noon I was 9/10 cm and by 2:30 pm I was spontaneously pushing. So…in medical terms of what is “active” labor, I really wasn’t even in active labor until 6 cm… so, the 2 days could be considered early labor, again, terms, because it all felt very hard and active to me. I remember right before pushing that I told my midwife I wanted to but I was afraid and I don’t think I can labor for like ten more labors, and she just replied with “listen to your body.” She didn’t say yes, do it, no, don’t. I had to trust that it was ok and truly just listen in to myself and my power and move past the doubt that I was just in that same start/stop labor as before. Once I started, the midwives started moving much faster in the bedroom prepping all of the materials needed, as I literally was birthing probably in the most inconvenient spot in our bedroom, blocking being able to walk to and from in the room. I was on the ground, on my knees, with a birth ball and my arms outstretched across the birth ball which I laid my chest on and held to rest in between contractions. I held my husband hostage pulling on him arms like crazy during contractions. We had planned on him catching the baby, but that wasn’t going to happen because I trapped him there. I could feel him moving down and at some point they said they saw the head and I was able to touch it. Knowing that he was finally coming down, and being able to touch his head, I became determined to get him out asap. any regards for pushing slowly or whatnot went out the window. I was very loud and dropped a few f bombs. I hear that some women need to “roar” their babies out, and that was for sure the case for me. If our neighbor was home, I might have traumatized her. Baby was born 35 minutes later from start of pushing. The student midwife (who was awesome) caught him and pulled him up from under me as I sat back to pull him up. They helped us onto the edge of the bed as they were checking him. I birthed the placenta not long afterwards. Our son Lincoln was able to join us soon afterwards to meet his little brother. 

So, it was an extremely long labor, which gave me a great opportunity for mental strength and a very short, spontaneous pushing phase which taught me full on personal power and trust. I should add,  little man also surprised us with a nuchal hand (hand presenting alongside his head as he came out) which may have contributed to the dysfunctional labor patterns. I am so very grateful to my fantastic midwife team and my extremely loving and supportive husband who helped me work through the labor. The long labor was hard on him too but he never gave up on me or us. He understood my desires for a spontaneous normal birth for my VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) without unnecessary interventions and he showed up for all aspects of the prenatal care and supportive role before, during and after labor. I am so proud of the team our family of four has become and how we are dealing with a birth during Covid-19 which has limited the amount of help we can have as our families all live out of state and we’re trying to adhere to social distancing. It’s not easy with a toddler cooped up at home either. I’m so grateful I was able to give birth to my son at home. I now have experience having a son by scheduled cesarean in a hospital with no labor and a long labor, nuchal hand HBAC. Grateful for the blessings and lessons with each. 

*In addition* added later…

In talking with my midwife at my last checkup, I asked her why she thought the labor was so long… was it bc of a first time labor? the nuchal hand? his position?

She said that she thought the labor pattern became dysfunctional most likely due to my body being too tired and depleted to make it to the next step, so once I had an IV of fluids and felt safer once the “team” was there, my body was able to make it to the next level. And in reality, it actually went through active labor very quickly (probably only 5-7 hours from 6 cm to 10). The stress of covid-19 leading up to the birth, and the lack of childcare for my toddler for the whole labor, my doula not being able to come… all of these things were not helpful. ha. no kidding. They were not. I am amazed I did it honestly to be able to give birth like that after a few days in that environment. If I were to do it again, I’d have childcare for my toddler and have the doula I was working with being able to be there (which wasn’t possible in this scenario), and I’d call the midwives before the second night to come check on me before having to make it through another night “on my own.” I have no regrets though. It unfolded how it was supposed to. I now have experience, strength, and hope to share with other women.

COVID-19 and Birth Choices

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

March 30, 2020

It’s so interesting to me how there is a huge surge now in interest for home births within the US in the last few weeks as we’ve been dealing with COVID-19. I hope that after all this is over, our medical system and consumers may consider that the hospital (where we send sick people) may not be the best location for the majority of pregnant women, who are not sick and birth is not a medical event. Perhaps a new sort of “birth center” that can deal with both low and some higher risk women can arise out of this.

I came upon this article last night that I wanted to share…I agree that the choice of having a home birth isn’ t one to be taken lightly, nor should it be made in fear of having to go to the hospital. For the safety of home birth for both mother, baby, midwife, etc. everyone needs to really trust the process and one another. Fear, and “fight or flight,” derails birth.

“Midwives Are Swamped With Home- Birth Requests” By Irin Carmon of The Cut

Thank God Cuomo overruled his New York hospitals from forcing women to give birth on their own without any support persons, but this COVID-19 crisis has and will continue to create more birth trauma for mothers birthing right now (and birth trauma leads to higher postpartum stress and anxiety disorders).

I’m 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant right now. I’m patiently awaiting for labor to begin. I am so grateful I began interviewing midwives when I was 7 weeks pregnant and made the final choice to prepare for a home birth by around 18 weeks. I have needed all this time to mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare, and I still don’t know the outcome and I am still also thrown for a loop with all this craziness at the end. Even home birth plans have been affected. I can go into fear of “if I get sick, then I can’t home birth” to, “in the less than 7% chance we transfer (.5-1% chance of an actual emergency), it’ll be a nightmare at the hospital, how traumatic!” to “I hope I don’t freak out when my midwife arrives to my home in complete hospital gear/mask/gloves/overalls, creating a reminder of the virus fears” to “will I feel safe to have my doula touch me? to have anyone in my home?” I can’t imagine having to fully switch gears at the end from a hospital birth to a home birth if I really wasn’t wanting the home birth. I hope that women right now can find alternatives if they do not feel safe going into their hospital and find something that they do feel comfortable with. A woman should and needs to feel SAFE to give birth. It’s basic human (and animal) nature and so sad how it is so often overlooked as an important factor in giving birth.

Mini Meltdown Allowed (virtual prenatal visits amidst Covid-19)

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

March 24, 2020

I’m 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I just got the notice from my midwife that per state of California recommendations, they are treating low risk pregnancies by virtual visits when possible and in person visits when labs or other circumstances warrant during this corona virus crisis. I am super grateful that they are taking such precautions to ensure their availability for attending my birth (not being sick) and also not bringing sickness into my home. The email was thoughtful, laid out professionally, and makes total sense. However… of course not how I envisioned the end of pregnancy going. I have no actual cause for worry about my health or my baby’s health, hence some of the reasons why we have been planning a home birth since the beginning. If I was a high risk pregnancy I would be seeing an OB and planning to birth in a hospital. But even with the mental knowledge that I am healthy and all is good, the fear can creep in and it did this afternoon as I started crying to my husband.

This is a stressful time to be giving birth. Period. I am trying my best to talk to my baby to tell him it’s safe out here and that we are all ok and we are excited to meet him, but I know he can feel some of my stress, which of course makes me feel worse. Today on my walk I tried to tell him, “Mom feels stressed bc it is weird right now BUT I am strong and able to surrender so we will be ok.” I guess it might be a lesson in connecting and teaching my son about the reality of emotions and how they are ok. I can validate my feelings and not let them steamroll me. He is going to be quite a little trouper I can tell already if he’s choosing to come into the world now. I can’t wait to meet him.

So, even as I am grateful to be planning a birth at home (because you couldn’t pay me to be going to hospitals right now or even busy offices, with how the policies are literally changing daily with support persons/or husbands not being allowed in some labor and deliveries, and just the fact that hospitals are the centers for infections even more so now). My heart goes out to all women who are having to deal with that. I hope I will not. I am mentally staying in the zone of “I will not” and visualizing my birth at home.

I think it was healthy and helpful today to freak out a little though with the realization that I am not physically seeing my midwife in person until 40 weeks. I think it just hit home for me more today that this is all very real with how COVID-19 is affecting maternal care and our birth is being affected too, just probably not in ways that a lot of others are at the moment planning hospital births. I will see her in person of course if something comes up that warrants a need. Until then, I am going to be checking my vitals at home (just ordered a doppler for checking baby’s heart rate and a blood pressure monitor), doing virtual visits, waiting for labor and trying to relax. :)) We will not have anyone beyond the essential labor team come over (doula, midwife, assistant) so that means my husband and doula will be taking turns caring for my 20 month old while I labor. I can see the beauty in how this will be though. I wanted a family centered birth. We will be able to be just us for most of this and postpartum. It will be lovely and challenging and beautiful. I have been listening to unassisted birth stories the past week or so to just mentally get into that space even more of “My baby knows how to do this. My body knows how to do this. Everyone else is a witness.” I think it’s helping, along with some good releasing tears.

California’s “Stay Home” Order Right Before Giving Birth…This is interesting.

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

March 20, 2020

So… today is technically the first full day of the “stay home” order in California because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am almost 38 weeks pregnant getting ready for my HBAC (home birth after cesarean). I originally wanted to make this post all about how to prepare for a healthy postpartum space, arranging for help as desired and limiting visitors, and honoring the 40 days as many cultures do. Well… a lot of that is now already taken care of for me, but there will also be new challenges. I’ll write about postpartum planning later.

So far this week my family has already been practicing “social distancing” mostly, and staying home. We did go to Torrey Pines beach to walk a few times, went to grocery stores, and the chiropractor. All of these things still seem to fall under the umbrella of being “ok” but I’m not totally sure yet. The call was just made last night to have the “stay at home” order in place for all of California. I think we are going to cut out things like Torrey Pines now but still get our walks in with our toddler while honoring the 6 feet distancing from others.

Yesterday, my birth doula came over for our last “prep” session. It was stressful to even decide if that was ok to do or not… to have her over, but we did and we didn’t touch at all. I was able to cry a bit with her as talking about everything going on sparked a release in me. I can acknowledge that this is stressful while 38 weeks pregnant while also being strong and mentally capable of preparing for birth and staying positive.

I am seeing my midwife (an LM who does home births and birth center births) by Facetime for my 38 week appointment next week after having just seen her this week for my 37 week and all is well.

Having some medical services go virtual and others still being in person, make it hard to differentiate how much I should still be going to or not. I have been regularly going to the chiropractor and acupuncturist throughout this pregnancy so now at the very end, I would like to continue to do so as part of my prenatal care. Luckily my providers are still open as they are medical services and they have verified for me the precautions they are taking in their very small offices.

I have to say, I am trying to look for silver linings in all this and one of those may be that we culturally make a shift towards less “medicalized” births in hospitals for the majority (not all) of women who are low risk as I am seeing numerous women online in all of my pregnancy/birth groups, asking about birth centers or home births to avoid the hospitals right now. Midwives in my area are accepting late transfers and giving discounts to accommodate for the demand. Policy is already very scary for pregnant mothers in hospitals without all this but now it’s even worse. ACOG and WHO are giving different recommendations and hospitals are abiding by different ones, many of which of course are not evidence based because there is no solid evidence with any of this (impact of virus on pregnant women and babies). Some hospitals are doing a two week mother baby separation right at birth for mothers who are COVID-19 positive when there is not actually evidence that this is needed. The repercussions of this on mother and baby are huge! My heart goes out to anyone who experiences this and my hope is that this crisis helps shed more light on the flaws in our OB/hospital model of maternity care system in the US.

If you are pregnant right now and trying to change birth plans/providers/location or just going through the stress of this and want to connect, please reach out! Here is a great link (with numerous links inside it) to stay informed whatever your choices may be for your birth:

EVIDENCE BASED BIRTH website has lots of links and webinars and newsletters to stay on top of the pandemic and it’s affect on pregnant women.

Giving Birth Amidst a Global Pandemic…Didn’t expect that one.

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

So everyone always says… birth plans rarely go as planned. Well… I am pretty sure that giving birth while we hit the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States wasn’t in my birth plan.

I am 37 weeks and 2 days today on March 16, 2020 so I will definitely be giving birth amidst all this as the US has finally gotten on board with measures to slow down the pandemic. It changes drastically on a daily basis as Trump contradicts previous statements he has made, sometimes even from day to day. (I won’t get into that now but I am sure you can tell how I feel about him and the way he has dealt with this crisis).

I can not tell you how glad I am that I followed my gut in the first trimester to hire a licensed midwife to have a home birth vbac. I can not think of a better time in history to not have to go into a hospital for a normal, low risk birth. Now, of course there is a small chance I could require a transfer (my midwife has a 7% transfer rate of which only .5% is an emergency. “The most common reason for transport from home to hospital is lack of progress in a first time mom…Other reasons for transport may include unresolved fetal distress, thick meconium with birth not eminent or excessive blood loss.”)  BUT, I am positive and have faith that labor and delivery will go smoothly. I have around a 90% chance of no transfer and I honestly think higher becausese of how much I do not want to go to a hospital unless it was totally medically necessary for myself or baby, ,meaning the much lower side of those statistics. Being able to stay home (as I have to due to the current pandemic anyways) I will be able to avoid the “fight or flight stress” of going to the hospital which can profoundly affect labor and birth. Now… I do have the added anxiety of all this crazy stuff happening just a few weeks before birth, which isn’t ideal, but I am trying my best to use my mindfulness, breath and keeping things simple to not go into panic mode. As of this hour, I am still able to drive to my midwife tomorrow for my 37 week appointment and pick up my birth tub. Now if things get more intense with lockdowns and limited movement, I’ll update with a new post. I think if a lockdown happened, she’d just come to me at my home for final appointments.

When policies in hospitals already can be huge issues and blockades for women desiring a normal birth without intervention, I can’t imagine what’s going to happen here now with this pandemic and hospitals bracing for the impact. I have received great information so far about the World Health Organization’s recommendations which may be helpful to know if you are currently pregnant. I highly recommend subscribing to Evidence Based Birth’s email updates.

I will still be prepared in case of having to transfer to a hospital, knowing what the “new” recommendations are from WHO to be able to advocate for myself for things such as no mother/baby separation and allowing my doula with me (which may be a tough battle). I don’t want to add to anyone else’s anxiety with this but if you are planning a hospital birth, you may be up against more policies, such as no doula in room with you, or if you have COVID-19 they could try to enforce mother baby separation. I highly encourage every pregnant woman right now to become her own advocate and gatherer of knowledge. It might not be a bad idea to look into home birth or birth center options either if you are a low risk pregnancy and you are hoping to avoid being on a hospital timeline for labor/birth, restrictions to who can there, concern over mother/baby separation, etc. A birthing center could be a great option at this time if you aren’t comfortable with a home birth. (Although they are the same in terms of medical support, the only difference might be distance to the nearest hospital).

Our hospital which is 4 minutes from our house (which is why it made sense to me instead of a birth center (see previous post) already has a confirmed case of COVID-19 and of course will rise by the day. Although I do think that my baby and myself are not at severe high risk, I also know that there hasn’t been enough time or experience to really know so I prefer to be on the side of caution. I also want to be a part of the solution and not the problem so adhering to the guidelines of social distancing and staying home.

If you are currently about to give birth, where are you planning to give birth? What policies do you already see happening in your area? Please comment and share!

Why does everyone get induced? What’s going on here?

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

Opinion piece here…As I’ve been on this journey of birth for a few years now, with my first son (born by cesarean in a hospital) and now awaiting the birth of my second son (planning to birth at home with a licensed midwife), I have been reading a lot and keeping my ears open to others’ experiences. I am not a “everyone should do home birth” kind of a person, I don’t know anyone who is. Nor am I judging women who choose elective induction. If that is something someone really wants, that is cool, I am pro the woman’s choice. BUT, I don’t think that women are actually given the full spectrum of information about elective induction which is the main problem AND it is being suggested by far too many medical professionals (mostly OB’s in hospitals) when, many times, it isn’t actually in the best interest of mother and baby. I think a lot less women would be saying “yes” to suggested inductions if they were given the whole picture. For example, a mother’s mental well being post baby is actually extremely important for one: the woman and two: the health of the baby. The whole “as long as you have a healthy baby, healthy mom” comment, is hardly ever referring to a woman’s postpartum health or just her mental/physical/spiritual health in general, or the baby’s. Studies show that emergency cesareans (which can rise from elective inductions) give a 15% higher chance for a woman to develop postpartum disorder. There is also the issue of clarifying when inductions are medically necessary versus elective. For example, the fear tactic of “your baby is big and you’re close to your due date so let’s induce” is NOT medically supported. (The ACOG finally just came out and admitted that ultrasounds can’t accurately predict a baby’s weight for example.)

I am just thinking of this today as literally within the past two days I’ve heard of two women I know being induced. One of which is getting induced the day after “40 weeks.” Now, to me… due dates are a joke. They aren’t accurate. A woman isn’t even considered “post term” until after 42 weeks and that is just a guideline of the ACOG. In some countries, it’s later. Unless there is a major medical reason to induce, it seems more logical to just let the body and baby go into labor when ready, so labor isn’t horrible for the mother. Induced labors in general are actually harder than spontaneous labors because the body is being forced into it. I have friends who shared with me how their kids went into distress once given pitocin. It was clear that the baby didn’t like the “force me out” method. My mom said once she was given the epidural that her labor stalled.

If someone doesn’t want a major abdominal surgery with all that comes with it (possibly not having skin to skin right away, possible problems nursing, possible problems with breathing for baby, a much higher likelihood of postpartum depression, etc.), one should really consider saying yes to any kind of induction method because of what’s called the “cascade of interventions.” Once this process is kickstarted, let’s say with being given some pitocin when the body has shown no signs or minimal signs of readiness, the woman is then typically put on a clock at that hospital for things to happen in a certain amount of time. She is also catapulted into a lot of pain (not the natural way of the body and brain chemistry working together) which leads to a need for an epidural, which can totally halt the progress of labor because a woman can not feel what is happening to intuitively breathe or push the baby down. NOT to mention, once given synthetic drugs to induce a woman is put on continuous fetal monitoring devices which also unnecessarily lead to more interventions and she is most likely stuck on her back in a bed which makes labor much harder and less efficient. (Please look at my resources page and this quick article with a caption below).

“The Listening to Mothers survey reported that almost 50% of the women surveyed had their labors induced (Declercq, Sakala, Corry, Applebaum, & Risher, 2002). Physicians are astonishingly up-front in discussing how much more efficient scheduled inductions (and scheduled cesareans) are. They claim that women will not have to worry about middle-of-the-night births and that hospital staffing and bed turnover can be better managed. Both physicians and women seem to be comfortable with “intervention-intensive” labor and birth.

Women are between a rock and a hard place. It is so easy to be seduced into believing that the baby is ready for birth. It is also frightening to hear the physician talk about a too-large baby or a possible medical problem. In the first instance, potential problems are brushed aside; in the second instance, problems are suggested where none are likely to exist. In both cases, pregnant women do not have the full information required for making a truly informed decision.

To make an informed decision—either informed consent or informed refusal—women need to know the value of waiting for labor to start on its own. The last days and weeks of pregnancy are vitally important for both the mother and her baby. The end of pregnancy is as miraculous as its beginning. It’s a lot easier to say “no” to induction if the mother knows the essential and amazing things that are happening to prepare her body and her baby for birth.” (“Saying No to Induction” The Journal of Perinatal Education by Judith A. Lothian, PhD, RN, LCCE, FACCE)

I remember with my first birth, the CNM saying, “Don’t worry, having the section at 39 weeks is perfectly fine. The baby is done developing.” In my gut, I had a problem with this. Although I accepted that most likely he wouldn’t turn at that point (he was frank breech), I felt it was not right to not let my body at least go into labor on it’s own and then go in for the cesarean, but I succumbed to the fear tactic and went with what they said “I had to do.” If you access the risks with either choice (c section scheduled without any indication of labor at 39 weeks vs let labor start then have the c section), I think it’s less risky go with the later and gives many benefits for baby and mother to allow body to at least start the process.

Now, that all said, with the info I have now I would’ve sought out an OB who delivered breech babies but I have also thought about how going into labor is usually better for the mom and baby. It’s not convenient for doctors or hospitals though.

If anyone out there is pregnant and hoping for a spontaneous labor with little to no interventions, I would highly suggest you ask your provider lots of questions very early and do your homework on the provider/institution in which you are planning to deliver as per their rates and policies (with a 50% induction rate going on and a 31% cesarean rate going on in the US… it is very clear that it’s actually harder for a woman to birth without interventions in hospitals than it is to have them.) Also, switch providers as many times as needed to find one that lines up with your beliefs and “gut.”

“Labor Prep” After 35 weeks for a Spontaneous and Shortened Labor

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

As I prepare for my HBAC (home birth after cesarean) and continue to have bi weekly to soon weekly appointments with my LM (Licensed Midwife), I’ve been given some options of how to further prepare my body for labor in this final stretch of the last 4-6 weeks. There are a lot of myths out there, things that can actually help, and things that could cause damage as “natural” ways to encourage spontaneous labor and shorten labor. I am not putting myself on a timeline where I have to induce labor and have chosen a provider who will also not put me on a timeline except for what she has to honor in our state per law. She can only attend my birth if I go into labor between 37-42 weeks gestation in the state of California. If I go into labor before that I’d be “early term” so would need to see an OB at a hospital and post 42 weeks I’d have to do so as well because after 42 weeks is considered “postterm” according to the ACOG. BUT… going to 40 weeks, 41 weeks and some days, is definitely fine and VERY NORMAL. I can choose to do more tests at that time as I wait as well to ensure all is well as I wait. I’m not looking to try to force this baby out before the baby wants to come out. (You can read about induction which is now a “norm” in our country at EBB.) I would consider medically indicated induction if I knew for sure it was actually medically indicated, but I wouldn’t do an elective induction (obviously planning a home birth reflects those beliefs).

I’d recommend using the Evidence Based Birth website to watch videos and read articles about specific topics to see what evidence exists as you make your own choices, along with other valid sources and your midwife, OB or family doctor. That helped me. But mostly… I listen to my gut which I believe is actually the best thing I can do to prepare myself for labor. If I can stay connected to that, I will have a great birth, no matter what. My body knows best. My inner voice knows best and I will listen to that. (I’ve done lots of fact finding and gathering from other peoples’ experiences and researched what I can to help me come to these conclusions for what feels right for ME).

Things I’m doing to prepare my body for labor in addition to the all the things done so far in pregnancy (posture, Spinning Babies, weekly chiropractor, walking etc. (see earlier posts). Please research these widely known ways to improve labor outcomes to know if they are right for you. I’ll just list them here with a few links of support to get you started if you’re interested.)

POST 35 WEEKS: Natural Methods of Preparation

“The women who consumed date fruit had significantly higher mean cervical dilatation upon admission compared with the non-date fruit consumers (3.52 cm vs 2.02 cm, p < 0.0005), and a significantly higher proportion of intact membranes (83% vs 60%, p = 0.007).”

The effect of late pregnancy consumption of date fruit on labour and delivery.
  • Spending more time sitting on the birth ball, moving hips/pelvis and keeping the good posture for baby’s optimal positioning to hopefully avoid any posterior presentation and keep baby head down. (He’s been head down since around 27 weeks thanks to all the things done the whole pregnancy.)
  • Drinking Red Raspberry Leaf Tea everyday (I’ve been doing this since 20 weeks). I may increase to 2 cups a day now in the last month. (Study “Raspberry leaf and its effect on labour: safety and efficacy.”)
  • Weekly Acupuncture after 35 weeks! (it’s supposed to shorten early labor by 2-3 hours)
  • Positive Affirmations (my own as well as Hypnobirthing audio) and listening to my prenatal yoga playlists that I’ve been listening to most of the pregnancy.
  • Staying connected to the belief that I “Trust my inner knowing.”

What I’m choosing NOT to do/take:

  • I won’t take castor oil near 40 weeks in hopes of inducing labor (there is a lot of bad evidence about this method that some people use to “naturally” induce labor).
  • My midwife offered me an herbal “Labor Prep” syrup to be taken in the last 4-5 weeks of pregnancy to naturally help prepare the uterus and cervix for labor. (It has the same ingredients as this one found on Amazon which are: Blue cohosh, squaw vine, false unicorn, and black haw. I personally trust her and trust that is has helped many women’s labors BUT, it just didn’t sit right with me so I decided not to take it after I tried it. After doing some research on some of the herbs in the mixture, I further solidified my choice. This was one of those… just trusting my gut kind of things. It may be fine to take for many women, but I’d prefer to just take some vitamins and have some herbal tea as opposed to 3 times a day herbal syrup. The EBB video about blue cohosh solidified it for me. I haven’t regularly take herbal supplements so it’s just not something I feel comfortable with with this particular product.

Informed consent? Choices? in Maternity Care

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

I’m 33.5 weeks pregnant and just left my midwife’s office for my 33 week appointment. I was reminded I need to make my decisions about GBS testing/treatment and sign the consent forms after reading the provided materials (pros/cons/etc.) as I plan for a home birth VBAC. As I drove away I began to compare this interaction with my first experience with GBS during my first pregnancy.

With my first pregnancy, I was seeing a well known Certified Nurse Midwives (a group) at a hospital in Chicago. I chose to switch from an OB at Northwestern to this CNM group with the hopes that I’d have a better “chance” at a natural birth (less hurdles to battle) and now, I can see how the hospital policy impacts ALL providers, even if they are more “natural” friendly like a CNM group. I remember one of those later third trimester checkups when I was talking with a CNM. Up until this point, I had verbalized the importance of movement in labor and intermittent monitoring or at the very least wireless monitoring because I realized I may not be able to actually choose that. At the later appointment it was pointed out that I actually tested positive for GBS so I would have to have antibiotics administered via IV upon arrival to the hospital when in labor and that it was important to not arrive “too late.” I recall feeling quite disappointed as the sounds of an IV in my hand and a pole strapped to me while in labor, didn’t exactly feel right. It seemed like, as we kept getting closer to the end, things like “natural birth” started going out the window (for example, also learning how the hospital doesn’t really allow eating while there) WTF? So now we were talking about needles in hands, IV’s, antibiotics (which are a whole issue in and of themselves with how they can impact the baby). hmmmmm….

Now… fast forward to my current experience, where I am able to CHOOSE …

1. whether or not I get tested for GBS,

2. the course of treatment or no treatment should I test positive,

3. and that I am given information both for and against treatment and more background information to the whole GBS testing thing in general. I am encouraged to research this topic to make an informed decision.

(I’m not getting into the full content/debate about GBS testing in this post but I’ll just mention that one can test positive for it one week, and not the next week and vice versa. If you test positive for it, it doesn’t meant the baby will be born infected by it, but there is a chance the baby could be.)

I have not decided yet which course of action I would choose if I tested positive again but I do know that I am grateful that I have an opportunity to make an informed decision about it. This one example of GBS testing and treatment in laboring mothers got me thinking about the nutshell of the main problem with the hospital system for maternity care in the US today. It is set up for the primary benefit of the PROVIDER and not for the needs of a specific mother/child/family. I am starting to understand what birth advocates are talking about when they mention a need for more “informed consent.”

What are your thoughts?

As I am deciding about this particular choice as well in the next few weeks, I would love to hear others experience with GBS testing/not testing and decisions of treatment/not treatment during labor. Please comment or message or tweet! Thanks!

Share or not to share?

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

During my first trimester, I was researching, interviewing, and coming to terms in my own soul with what was right for me in terms of a provider and birth plans, I chose to not share my home birth considerations with basically anyone other than my husband and support groups online. I highly highly recommend this. During a time of decision making, it is important to not be subjected to a million opinions OR other people’s negative, traumatic experiences with birth and their own fears. I have spent a lot of time growing into a person who can stand on her own two feet and not give a shit about what other people think about me or say BUT, when in a vulnerable space such as being pregnant…and making these personal choices, I believe it’s important to protect that space spiritually and mentally. The use of DISCRETION is key. Even throughout the second trimester I chose to not tell people because…well, it didn’t feel necessary and I was still moving through some tests and things that could’ve risked me out of prepping for a home birth so I didn’t think it felt “real” enough to even share.

I’m 31 weeks pregnant and I feel differently. I made it through the decision making process of the first trimester as I gained tons of information and I spent the second trimester settling into it all myself, and in the third trimester now, I feel confident in my choices and am super excited about birth! I also want to normalize my choices (as a home birth plan is new for me given my first was a desired natural birth turned c section due to frank breech at 37 weeks). I do want to share all this info I have learned as well to other women but also know that might not be my place, or the time yet. Another place to use that lovely word DISCRETION. Other women may want a scheduled c section, an induction, etc. and that is cool, more power to you. I’m not trying to push for all women to have natural births. I just hope there is more real informed consent happening around all of it one day…for example, every women actually being told the risks of an epidural to mom and baby or how inducing labor changes labor and has a high rate of leading to c section or how our posture affects baby’s positioning the whole pregnancy.

Off on a tangent again…So, I am now openly sharing my home birth plans to people if 1. they ask specifically, and 2. I feel capable of detaching from their reactions. Being in the preparation phase for birth now, I do mostly feel able to detach from others’ reactions because I just don’t care what others think but…I’m not about to get into debates about it or try to justify my choices to skeptical, fearful people. There are still some people I won’t share it with because, well it’s a personal healthcare and family choice that really isn’t anyone’s business. But just like everything on the pregnancy journey, my perspective has now shifted and Im in the space of being excited for our plans, super happy with my provider (a home birth/birth center midwife), and wanting to normalize the process for myself, because, contrary to our culture, it is normal and I believe in physiological birth.

What are your experiences with this? Sharing or not sharing birth plans (whatever they may have been) and what worked for you?

Posture…Who would’ve thought?

Anonymous BirtherLeave a comment

Jan. 17, 2020.

I’m now almost 29 weeks pregnant with baby number two and I’ve been writing about the differences in care I’ve received this time around (because of my choices) and how I’m prepping for my vbac home birth. Today I’ve been thinking about how my previous experiences with OB’s and CNM’s in a hospital group (at great hospitals in major cities) compare with my care under a midwife now. I am not blaming previous providers as I konw to take responsibility myself to gain information now in regards to birth within our healthcare system BUT in all honestly, they were not great at teaching how to take “preventative” measures for concerns such as breech positioning or nutrition or exercise stipulations in general. Which probably doesn’t come as a shock as these are things they don’t really emphasize in their studies. This pregnancy, besides just taking responsibility myself to gather all the information I can, and I have, I have also been with a provider, a licensed midwife (LM) who practices in out of hospital births (home births or birth centers) who has put emphasis on measures to be taken EARLY to prevent the whole, “oh fuck, it’s now 37/38 weeks and baby is… or mommy is…what can we do to change it?”

Here’s a quick list of things I am now grateful to be more aware of because of both my own research being stepped up about 100 notches and my midwife’s thorough care. (She provided me with a thick binder with info to read before each appointment that carries me through to the end). Right away, first section of the binder there was an emphasis on how to achieve optimal fetal positioning for a smooth birth. FETAL POSITION DOES MATTER if you are trying to have a smooth, natural birth. It’s important even if you aren’t trying to have a natural birth but are trying to avoid an unnecessary cesarean or just a labor that might qualify as a “tough one.”

  1. POSTURE

I was never aware how much my posture and slouching in a chair or a couch could contribute to less than ideal positioning of the baby for birth. I think I was more aware of it at the very end of the pregnancy the first time but now I know it is something to consider from the beginning and one in which I believe has helped position my little guy in the optimal fetal positioning (LOA) since at least 27 weeks. I am going to keep paying attention to posture and although it feels like a pain in the butt sometimes to not just slouch into the couch, I understand and believe the importance of it now. I feel a bit awkward sometimes sitting with such good posture as everyone around me rests into the back of a chair…but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. I do want to slouch sometimes and sometimes I do briefly, but I’ve now developed a good amount of muscle memory with good posture or choosing to stand (as I am now) so when I do slouch, I can feel it my lower back and how my hips aren’t tilting forward anymore. The Spinning Babies website labels this as “Maternal Positioning.” Which leads me to the number 2 thing I’m most grateful for being more aware of now…

2. SPINNING BABIES

The main homepage of this website says “Easier birth with fetal positioning. Use this site and videos to improve fetal position (breech, transverse, posterior) and birth. Reduce the chance of cesarean.” I won’t copy and paste their knowledge here but go to the site and read read read! In my first pregnancy, I was made aware of this website from my prenatal yoga teacher and my doula at the time. My OB’s and CNM’s never directed me to this information except at the very end the CNM’s mentioned it with trying some exercises for how to flip a breech baby. It is much more effective to just be knowledgeable and practicing some of these exercises/suggestions EARLY on in the pregnancy and throughout, and not just at the end when it’s like…”oh shit…” 🙂 Before I also didn’t take it as seriously as I do now. I thought it could be used more as a measure taken if something went wrong as opposed to just optimal health for the pregnancy.

3. Acupuncture

I have seen an acupuncturist 3 or 4 times so far and I swear it is the best stress reliever I’ve ever experienced. You’re basically forced to rest and meditate for an hour without moving much so it is super super helpful to me to get some self care rest time as I have an almost 1.5 year old AND I believe the practice really works to prepare the body for birth. My body needs to be in balance and without tight muscles and ligaments obstructing or hindering baby’s positioning for birth. It was highly suggested to seek acupuncture from numerous Licensed Midwives I’ve met on this journey. Again, it was not suggested in my experience with OB’s or CNM’s until again at the very end last time when my CNM suggested I do that to try to solve the issue. I’ve found it to be helpful as a preventative measure so far.

4. Webster Certified Chiroporactic Care

This time around I’ve been seeing a chiropractor since the beginning… before, I tried to go 2-3 times around 38 weeks…which… when your body is out of balance, super tight, etc. a few times aren’t going to help. (First pregnancy I was probably the fittest I’ve ever been leading into it and had very tight ligaments around my pelvis and abdomen (and everywhere).) I love getting these adjustments and yes, I do think they have been helping enormously.

There you have it… The top 4 things I am grateful to be aware of during this pregnancy and doing things differently.

Please follow my blog to stay tuned and please reach out if you have any questions, are in the same boat, etc etc. I’d love to hear from you!